The plan was revealed during a discussion on local e-sports in Jakarta on Tuesday. Ministry spokesperson Gatot S. Dewa Broto said the regulation would be issued before the kickoff of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines on Nov. 30. E-sports will be contested in the biennial multisport event for the first time.

“The regulation will be in the form of a ministerial regulation, since it would take longer if we wanted it regulated in the National Sports System Law,” he said after the discussion.

Gatot went on to say that e-sports were not regulated in Law No. 3/2005 on the national sports system, but they met the basic elements of a sport.

“Our job right now is to gradually change the public perception [of e-sports]. [We] don’t want the public to label it negatively. We have to show it [the public] by creating an ecosystem to show it is part of global sports.

“As time passes, we will make a clear definition of e-sports and what differentiates them from [casual] video gaming. There will be terminology in the regulation on what constitutes e-sports,” he added.

To follow up with the plan, Gatot said the ministry would work hand-in-hand with several institutions — including the Communications and Information Ministry, the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) and the Executive Office of the President, which have demonstrated support for the growing sport over the past year.

The ministry will likely take further steps on the regulation after the inauguration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who has been reelected for 2019-2024.

The President has demonstrated support for e-sports in the country.

Under Jokowi’s patronage, Indonesia held its first national e-sports competition, named the Esports President’s Cup, early this year. Qualification rounds for the competition began in late 2018, with the final round held at Istora Senayan indoor stadium in Jakarta in March.

Jokowi repeated his wish to develop e-sports when he vowed to make the gaming industry one of the drivers of national economic growth during a session of presidential debates in the lead up to the election in April.

“Our children are interested in being gamers, so the government has developed digital infrastructure, such as the Palapa Ring [nationwide broadband network] and 5G,” he said.

On Oct. 13, the organizers will launch the 2020 Esports President Cup campaign. Organizing committee head Giring Ganesha claimed the second edition of the cup would be grander than the maiden cup.

In this year’s edition, players vied only in Mobile Legends, while the 2020 cup will involve three games, namely Free Fire, Pro Evolution Soccer and another as yet to be determined in a contest involving local game developers.

Giring said the government fully supported the cup as its organizers had held numerous meetings with the country’s gaming association and e-sports team owners for the growth of e-sports in the country.

The chief, the former lead vocalist of pop band Nidji, said most people in the country were unaware of the state of gaming, and hence the stigma — that e-sports were a waste of time.

The condition hampers the development of e-sports.

Gary Ongko Putra, owner of e-sports team BOOM ID, voiced the hope that the upcoming regulation would help local players get visas when they wanted to compete abroad.

“We currently have trouble getting visas as sometimes [stating] that the reason is to compete in a video game competition is taken in jest,” he said.

Gary also pointed out the need to educate the public about e-sports on the various platforms that the sports are played, such as on personal computers, smartphones and gaming consoles.

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